Genius Eyeliner Tricks to Spice Up Your Beauty Routine

Okay, so eyeliner freaks me out. One wrong move can derail your entire beauty routine – you know, the one you barely have time for in the first place. And have you ever noticed how one eye turns out perfectly and the other one totally doesn’t? Like, ever? Barf.

But hey, new year new you and all that jazz. I say it’s time we add 12 (count ’em, 12) new eyeliner tricks to our resume. Who knows? You might end up with eyes that match! (And by you, I really mean me.) Let’s get started, shall we?

Part 1

1

Heat things up

If your pencil feels like it’s scraping your eyelid, heat it with your blow dryer for two to three seconds. This will soften it enough to glide across your waterline.

2

Wanna wear bright shadow?

To make your neon shadow pop, cover your eyelid with a white eyeliner first. This will cancel out the color of your skin so it doesn’t mute the color of the shadow.

3

Speaking of white eyeliner…

It can make even the most tired woman look rested. For real:

4

If you don’t have the steadiest hand in the world…

Or you do, just not when you’re clutching liquid liner, line your lash with pencil liner first then trace the line with liquid. Consider it the training wheels of eyeliner tricks.

5

Make your lower line stay put

To keep your lower line from getting all smudgy, apply pressed powder right underneath it with a small brush. Bonus: If you use a powder that’s a tad lighter than your skin, it’ll highlight the area and make you look less tired!

6

Eyeliner crumbling?

Help your pencil eyeliner get its mojo back by popping it in the freezer for 10 minutes. The tip of the pencil will harden and you can get back to your regularly scheduled programming.

7

Never mess up a cat eye again

This is one of my favorite eyeliner tricks since it puts the rest of my Scotch tape to good use: Cut a one-inch strip of tape and dab it with your fingers to dull the stickiness (you want to go easy on your delicate eye area, after all). Apply it on an angle, upwards from your bottom lash line for a flawless wing. Here’s the full cat eye tutorial.

8

Use eye shadow as your liner

You can morph any eye shadow into eyeliner in no time: Just wet an eyeliner brush and dip! Apply a thin line over your upper lash line and you’re good to go. The dampness will make the shadow look darker and last longer.

9

Connect the dots

Line your lid with dots first and connect them for a flawless (pressure-free) line. Just make sure your dots are the same width as the line you want to create.

10

For a perfect smudge

Sure, many eyeliners come with a built-in smudger on the end, but most of them leave a lot to be desired. To me, the smudges look too forced. Instead, use a shadow that’s the color of your liner, put it on a smudge brush and smudge away. It’s much easier to blend and looks hot instead of hooker-ish.